Accenture began as the business and technology consulting division of accounting firm Arthur Andersen. The division's origins are in a 1953 feasibility study for General Electric. GE asked Arthur Andersen to automate payroll processing and manufacturing at GE's Appliance Park facility near Louisville, Kentucky. Arthur Andersen recommended installation of a UNIVAC I computer and printer, which resulted in the first commercially-owned computer installation in the United States in 1954. Joe Glickauf, an early pioneer of computer consulting,[10] held a position as head of Arthur Andersen's administrative services division for 12 years.

Throughout the 1990s, there was increasing tension between Andersen Consulting and Arthur Andersen. Andersen Consulting was upset that it was paying Arthur Andersen up to 15% of its profits each year (a condition of the 1989 split was that the more profitable unit – whether AA or AC – paid the other this sum), while at the same time Arthur Andersen was competing with Andersen Consulting through its own newly established business consulting service line called Arthur Andersen Business Consulting (AABC). This dispute came to a head in 1998 when Andersen Consulting claimed breach of contract against AWSC and Arthur Andersen. Andersen Consulting put the 15% transfer payment for that year and future years into escrow and issued a claim for breach of contract. In August 2000, as a result of the conclusion of arbitration with the International Chamber of Commerce, Andersen Consulting broke all contractual ties with AWSC and Arthur Andersen. As part of the arbitration settlement, Andersen Consulting paid the sum held in escrow (then $1.2 billion) to Arthur Andersen, and was required to change its name, resulting in the entity being renamed Accenture.[11]

Accounts vary on why the split occurred. Executives on both sides of the split cite greed and arrogance on the part of the other, and executives on the Andersen Consulting side maintained breach of contract when Arthur Andersen created AABC, because AABC competed directly with Andersen Consulting in the marketplace. Many of the AABC firms were bought out by other consulting companies in 2002, including Hitachi Consulting and KPMG Consulting, which later changed its name to BearingPoint.

On January 1, 2001 Andersen Consulting adopted its current name, "Accenture". The word "Accenture" is supposedly derived from "Accent on the future". The name "Accenture" was submitted by Kim Petersen, a Danish employee from the company's Oslo, Norway office, as a result of an internal competition. Accenture felt that the name should represent its will to be a global consulting leader and high performer, and also intended that the name should not be offensive in any country in which Accenture operates.[12]

On July 19, 2001, Accenture offered initial public offering (IPO) at the price of $14.50 per share in New York Stock Exchange (NYSE); Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley served as its lead underwriters. Accenture stock closed the day at $15.17, with the day's high at $15.25. On the first day of the IPO, Accenture raised nearly $1.7 billion.[13]

In October 2002, the Congressional General Accounting Office (GAO) identified Accenture as one of four publicly traded federal contractors that were incorporated in a tax haven country.[14] The other three, unlike Accenture, were incorporated in the United States before they re-incorporated in a tax haven country, thereby lowering their U.S. taxes. Critics, most notably former CNN journalist Lou Dobbs,[15] have reported Accenture's decision to incorporate in Bermuda as a U.S. tax avoidance ploy, because they viewed Accenture as having been a U.S.-based company.[16] The GAO itself did not characterize Accenture as having been a U.S.-based company; it stated that "prior to incorporating in Bermuda, Accenture was operating as a series of related partnerships and corporations under the control of its partners through the mechanism of contracts with a Swiss coordinating entity."

Ireland's long history of international investment and long-established commercial relationships, trade agreements and tax treaties with European Union member states, the United States and other countries where Accenture does business

Ireland's stable political and economic environment with the financial and legal infrastructure to meet Accenture's needs

The change became effective on September 1, 2009, the beginning of the company's 2010 fiscal year.

While Ireland is the company's headquarters for tax and legal purposes, much of the operational administration occurs in the United States, mainly New York City and Chicago.

A worldmap showing the 54 countries where Accenture has operations as of 2012 (coloured in blue)

Accenture organizes its services and people in these three primary cross-functional groupings. Accenture client engagement teams typically consist of a combination of industry experts, capability specialists and professionals with local market knowledge.

Technology unifies the full range of Accenture's systems integration, technology consulting, and IT outsourcing capabilities. Most people in the Services and Solutions work forces are aligned under the Technology growth platform.[18]

Accenture Operations focuses on managing specific business processes or functions for clients such as procurement, HR, finance and accounting, as well as services geared to the needs of specific industries.

Accenture advertises in television, print, and in public places, such as airports, around the world. From 1999 to 2014, Accenture sponsored an international event called the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, part of the World Golf Championships.[21] The company was parodied in a webcomic, Bigtime Consulting, by employee James Sanchez from 1999 to 2003. From at least 2005[22] until December 2009, Accenture used Tiger Woods as a celebrity spokesperson and advertised using the service mark "Go on, be a Tiger" and the ancillary statement "We know what it takes to be a Tiger" in association with Wood's celebrity image. On December 13, 2009 after details of Woods' extra-marital affairs were exposed, the company terminated Woods' six-year sponsorship deal.[23][24] The current advertising campaign features client success stories and the slogan, "High performance. Delivered."

Accenture was chosen to replace CGI Group as the lead contractor for HealthCare.gov in January 2014.[7] In December 2014, Accenture won a $563 million contract to provide ongoing maintenance, software development and technology support for HealthCare.gov through 2019. [37]

Accenture was selected as lead contractor of the implementation of the United States Department of Homeland Security's biometric identity management program, called US-VISIT, in 2003. The contract was for ten billion USD over ten years. The program has since had its responsibilities split and reorganized into different federal departments.

Accenture engaged in a very large and ambitious IT overhaul project for the National Health Service (NHS) in 2003, making headlines when it withdrew from the contract in 2006 over disputes related to delays and cost overruns.[38] The government of the United Kingdom ultimately abandoned the project 5 years later for the same reasons.[39]